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Thread: Thurso Food Bank

  1. #1

    Default Thurso Food Bank

    For the past several years, I have donated approx £20 in food to the Thurso Food Bank.

    However, I wont be doing it again as I am somewhat alarmed by the way some individuals abuse its generosity.

    For example, a neighbour of mine spend the afternoon drinking in a local bar then proceeded up the street to the Thurso Food Bank where he left with several bags of groceries. His wife/partner is in employment. If you can spend money drinking in a pub, then you are abusing the Thurso Food Bank.

    I'd like to hear other peoples views on this.

  2. #2
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    Oct 2012
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    Food banks are for the needy not a supplement for people who have money but choose to spend it on non essentials, I had food vouchers many years ago as I was left without money and 3 children to feed But I counted myself so grateful for the help !!Perhaps a better assessment of the clients / users would ensure the food went to the proper people

  3. #3

    Default

    i know some people that go to food bank and put stuff they do not like straight in the bin i would hope f i donated food it was used properly if you do not like it return it for someone who is really needy and would use everything because they were grateful for what they got

  4. #4
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    Feb 2008
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    Wick
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    Whatever goodwill system you create their will always be people that will abuse it, unfortunately it's the people that need that little leg up that takes the tumble again.
    A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears.

  5. #5

    Default

    This is exactly why I never donate to the Food Bank. I have witnessed someone spending their money on cider and saying openly that they're off down to the food bank now to get some groceries. I have no doubt that there are people in need of help but it seems that alcohol/drugs/tobacco addicts need to get their priorities right. Maybe instead of money(benefits) they should be given vouchers that can only be used by them(to prevent them selling them) to purchase essential groceries but, unfortunately, we're too frightened to offend/embarrass people that that will never happen. Instead us workers will have to continue working and watch as these abusers make mugs of us all.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
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    Thurso
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    there's a lot of geniuine people, including families with children, who occassionally might need to use the food bank (remember benefit sanctions?) and comments like this just add to the stigma and embarressment of having to go cap in hand for a bag of food to feed your family.

    we should be getting angry about why there has to be such a thing as food banks in the first place

  7. #7

    Default

    Where I am there are food banks, and then there are the Social Assiatance(Welfare payments).
    These Welfare vouchers are for Food and the necessities to exist on.
    One evening I was in a Grocery Store and the people ahead of me bought piles of Dog Food, cigarettes and booze, likely $200 worth....100 Pounds worth.
    I then saw that it was a Welfare Voucher..
    The next day I found out who they were and called the local Council Office to report this, and I was told that they were unable to discuss or do anything about it due to 'The Freedom Of Information Act'.
    I then asked them to talk with the Store as these Vouchers were for food only.....again they said there was no way they could be enforce it.
    So I suppose we all have to think positive and ignore the abusers........

  8. #8
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    Oct 2004
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    small fishing village outside wick called pulteney
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    we have food banks not because there is a super high demand for them but because they are there and folk will use them, if you open one food bank in an area and it get used then the ideology is there must be a need for more, and ergo more open, more that open the more the powers that be reckon we need, what your actually getting is a system that is open to abuse, once the abuse starts, we then think we are in a greater need for the food banks and this in turn creates a snowball effect,

    More food banks, more use, more use, more food banks required,

    Do you know there is an app to tell you from your location your nearest food bank,

    Put this another way,

    if I open a pub and give away free beer to the needy and the thirsty my pub would be busy every day and night, that would mean I would have to open another free pub because the demand is so high and therefore must been needed, before we know it there would be a free beer pub (food bank) in every town,

    I’m all for helping the needy, I but I know of a person that goes down to the pub on Friday and Saturday night then pops along to the food bank for her shopping, o and just a few months ago she bought herself a new telly,(nowt wrong with that as long as it’s not eating into your everyday living expenses) when questioned about her money and where it had gone, her answer was simple, I spent it on nights out, """" why shouldn't I get a night out, ????? """" beggars belief, but to the food bank her answer was slightly different, it was """ how can you ask me that, do you know how hard it is for me to come in here without being belittled even more, then carried her 3 day supply in her bags, and jumps in a taxi ?????,

    No food banks are not a free service nor is it for the replacement of misappropriation of funds (spent on nights out) it’s for folk that are in genuine trouble and genuine need, but like I said it’s open to abuse and sob stories,

    Shame really because if we all cared for each other this wouldn’t be happening, but we as a race are greedy and have no shame,
    if it wasnt for pubs it would be tescos for us all

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    Article on John o'Groat Journal website linking increased demand for local food banks with delays in payments of Universal Credit:

    "Caithness Food Bank demand doubles in December

    DEMAND for emergency food parcels in Caithness have jumped by 50 per cent during December.

    Caithness Food Bank has been working flat out to service referrals from people who are struggling and need assistance to help feed themselves and their families.

    Chairman Grant Ramsay said the main reason people are needing help is delays in the universal credit scheme. ... ":

    http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/...s-02012018.htm

  10. #10

    Default

    Some of you lot are so single minded and have no shame. People have addiction issues, mental health issues etc etc etc, how dare you come on here and belittle them even further.

  11. #11
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    Nov 2005
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    You've got to love all those that voted Tory , the people friendly party. Their slogan " we in it together " means your in the brown stuff and they're in the money. Maybe a slogan should be " Break this Tory sin by donating a tin"or Tory sin bin Tin Week outside every supermarket . Let's show those rotten rich Tory asses that we won't stand for this but ,we will stand together .

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Dennis View Post
    Some of you lot are so single minded and have no shame. People have addiction issues, mental health issues etc etc etc, how dare you come on here and belittle them even further.
    I agree with you, such comments such condescending remarks are nothing short of disgusting,
    No one knows what is in front of them..what the future holds for them, illness could strike at any time, redundancy for many..think on people you might be next.

  13. #13
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    Aug 2012
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    I don't see how pointing out the fact that someone abusing the food bank by drinking, smoking, gambling or injecting all their money then expecting a free lunch off the back of others is belittling them. Yes they may have an issue but why isn't that issue being addressed instead of passng the burden onto others to attempt to lessen the impact of his problem? I posted on here several weeks ago that i saw a lad struggle out of the food bank in wick and put them into a taxi whilst i was passing on my way to town. I later nipped into Harpers for a beer and the lad was sat at the bar getting drunk as he usually no doubt does with the bags sat at his feet. How would you feel if you had donated that food for use by someone who needed it only to see it wrapped around a drunk's feet in the pub? so why is he given a free lunch when others who really need it can't get it! Who referred him to the food bank in the first place? You can't just walk into a food bank and say i'm broke and hungry, give me some food, you need to be referred by someone in the health or benefits system. There would be no need for any food banks if people were given appropriate help with their disabilities, a decent working wage or the benefits system was working as intended and didn't have targets for benefit staff to hit by sanctioning people but then again, you only get sanctioned if you can't be bothered to follow the rules properly. If people are unable to fully understand and follow the rules for claiming benefit then there should be help there for them instead of sanctioning them. What about the lardasses who can't be bothered getting out of bed to sign on or attend an interview? do they deserve all the sanctions they get? do they deserve a referral to the food bank? The Universal credit changeover only happens once so people might be entitled to help during that changeover period but how many are still using the food bank after the transition to UC is over? What were people doing 20+ years ago when they fell on hard times? there were no food banks then and no need for them either. Benefits are for many an entitlement and a necessity in times of need, but for a certain bunch they are a lifestyle choice and that is the problem that should be tackled, not adding more food banks to system. Too many people think they are entitled to everything for nothing nowadays, they're not and should get off their backsides and make an effort and let those who really are entitled to aid, receive it.

  14. #14
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    Shaggy, Food banks have always been around..many many years ago the DHSS would give vouchers to those who found themselves in crisis, contrary to what you have said.. the vouchers were not accepted in shops for anything other than food..other charities existed then as now for folks in dire need..some supply clothing, bedding etc..some supply furniture, all require some kind of referral, there are soup kitchens aplenty in almost every big town..the Salvation Army being just one contributor,
    Food banks are and always have been a necessity of modern day living, yes by all means tackle those folks who have made a lifestyle choice..who prefer to lay in bed rather than go look for work..single out those people who never known any other kind of life..whose parents and possibly grandparents chose not to work when there was work to be had..
    or the disabled who thought they might never work again, due only to the neglect of the establishment who bothered not in offering some kind of retraining/re-integrating back into society..
    it is the system at fault, not those who have been led by it,

    And so what if you give to charity..clearly you believe you are doing something good for someone else..why should it bother you once your gift is gone who benefits from your gift, its gone/nothing to do with you anymore..
    For myself, I like to think that anything I give to whosoever/ charity that it will be of some use to someone, somewhere and that I have put something into something I care about be it shop/charity/community etc,
    Once its given/donated its gone,

  15. #15

    Default

    The same sort of arguments are used about international aid- that it is ripped off by corrupt governments/individuals etc and therefore some say we should not bother to give- and then put up with the sight of starving, dying children on our TV screens.
    As regards the food banks, I agree with what Westward has said. Also, there is so much that needs to be put right and things will only change if and when there is a real effort on many fronts to do something about it. Many kids (and we all probably know about some) are born into households where they have little chance and are disadvantaged right from the start. Those children may well grow up to be the adults that we are talking about on here- and I certainly know one person in that category. The help for people with addiction problems is awful in many places; even worse for those with mental health problems and the two go hand in hand. All the social services have been cut to to the bone. Yes, some people will persist in thinking that the state should fund them in idleness from cradle to grave but there always have been folk like that but that is no reason for not trying to bring about change for the better for the vast majority who are in need in so many ways.
    I always think it's easy to judge but 'there but for the grace of God go I'. So I'll be continuing to donate to the food bank and to charities that work in international aid.

  16. #16

    Default

    As someone who works at the food bank can I reassure people that we do turn down those that we know are trying to abuse the system. If you see someone abusing it and know they are (not just suspect it) then pop in and have a quiet word with one of our staff towards the end of opening hours. We have procedures in place for when someone is suspected of abusing the system. Food bank staff are not allowed to vet a persons entitlement, that is done by professional bodies such as the job centre, social services and the police. These bodies issue a chitty, no chitty no food. We have to assume that everyone with a chity is genuine. We are not in the pub's ectra to spot the dodgy ones frittering their money. We are busy in the food bank tending to genuinely hard up people (who usually only turn up the once btw) .

    And yes I do get annoyed and downhearted when I see the same scam artist turn up and try to pull the wool. But then I see the faces of those truly destitute people and know that it is worth sifting through the scally wags.

  17. #17

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    p.s. thank you Fulmar. Without people like you we wouldn't be able to reach so many unfortunates.

  18. #18
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    Thurso
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    I was going to put some of the food I had bought in Tescos for the food bank and my Gran stopped me ... "think how many jobs for life went when this lot opened. If we really want to make a difference we would do what the Irish did and refuse to use them. Tesco are still making the money and paying the tax wherever and however much they want. There were 5 good butchers and bakers in Thurso now how many?" Even in her 80's she made the effort to buy local and would go out of her way to help people. She was never keen on impersonal 'charity' she thought it was antisocial.

  19. #19

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    Actualy we live in bower and we weren't feckless. We were renovating a croft when the jobs dissapered. no job = no money, no money = no rent (and no more builders, plumbers to finish the house). Job centre in wick said that our uninhabitable shell of a house was classed as an asset so technically we had savings. They weren't going to help us until we had sold up and frittered away every penny. Friends helped out where they could but would you want a family camping out in your living room for 3 months?

    Any one can lose their job, just ask those being laid off on the oil rigs.

    I hope scorrie you never have to face the prospect of no job, no home, knowing that everyone looks down on you as if you chose to be worth less than dirt. We could have followed the jobcentres advice and ended up perminently reliant on housing benefit instead we tightened our belts and made do until we got work.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by B0wer View Post
    Actualy we live in bower and we weren't feckless. We were renovating a croft when the jobs dissapered. no job = no money, no money = no rent (and no more builders, plumbers to finish the house). Job centre in wick said that our uninhabitable shell of a house was classed as an asset so technically we had savings. They weren't going to help us until we had sold up and frittered away every penny. Friends helped out where they could but would you want a family camping out in your living room for 3 months?

    Any one can lose their job, just ask those being laid off on the oil rigs.

    I hope scorrie you never have to face the prospect of no job, no home, knowing that everyone looks down on you as if you chose to be worth less than dirt. We could have followed the jobcentres advice and ended up perminently reliant on housing benefit instead we tightened our belts and made do until we got work.
    Not a lot of point in arguing the toss with those who have not the foresight to see your point,
    the bloody-minded attitude of the "natives" who wrongly believe everyone and everything is below them,

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